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A few years ago, before my daughter learned to read, I read her the book “Alice in Wonderland”. In the book, Alice sort of wanders from encounter to encounter without a strong purpose. The plot is summed up well when she asks the Cheshire Cat which way she should go. The cat responds by asking where she is trying to go. Alice explains that she doesn’t care where she is going. This prompts the cat to explain that it doesn’t matter which way she goes, because it doesn’t matter where she ends up. He goes on to tell her that she’s bound to en...
Daryl Davis is a blues musician who, for the last 30 years, has been collecting KKK robes. He has over 200 in his home, which he saves as a reminder of the work he has been doing. Mr. Davis is an African American man whose uses his spare time to befriend members of the KKK. He visits them in prison, drives their families to visits and appointments, and does what ever else he can to show love to folks who have built their lives around hating him and people like him. His 200 robes have been given to him by 200 men he befriended and converted...
I’ve spent the last few months studying the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. Most people are familiar with the story of Daniel being tossed into the lion’s den as a death sentence, only to be saved by God. That’s really just a minor episode in the story of Daniel, who was a Jewish man living in Babylon during the exile. The exile was a period of 70 years where the nation of Israel was decimated by the Babylonian empire. The majority of the population was carted off as captives to serve in Babylon when Daniel was a young man. He was press...
A couple of decades ago I graduated from high school and went off to college. I had a straight path in mind regarding what I was going to do with my life. I had intended on finishing a pre-seminary degree from a little private college I was attending. I would then attend seminary, which I had already picked out before arriving at college. At the end of my first semester, I found that the ancient language requirements to complete my degree were not going to be something I was going to manage (I squeaked through Biblical Greek with a very low...
During the lockdown, one of the weirdest challenges I have taken on has been keeping my kids from eating nothing but junk food. If they had their way breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, supper, dinner, and every snack in-between would consist purely of processed sugar, corn syrup, chocolate covered, and deep fried stuff. I use the word “stuff” because most of what they would prefer to eat never qualified as actual food at any point so it requires a label that reflects the artificial nature of their foods of choice. There is a reason that the...
While teaching one day, Jesus was asked by an expert in the Jewish law codes ‘what is the most important commandment.’ His answer was to repeat the Old Testament summary of the 10 Commandments: Love God with all your being and love your neighbor as yourself. This prompted another question: Who is your neighbor? Neither of these questions was unique among the ancient Jews. Rabbis had been arguing over these sorts of matters for centuries. In particular, the neighbor question was one of the 7 most hotly debated religious topics of the era. There...
In 165 AD, an epidemic swept through the Roman Empire, ravaging the western world for 15 years. The disease may have been smallpox, though it’s difficult to say with any certainty. Regardless of the nature of the illness, the result was devastating. Around a third of the population of Rome died. The population was justifiably terrified of the horrible illness. The wealthier amongst the Roman citizenry simply sequestered themselves in their country homes for years, while the poorer members of the population fled cities or did their best to r...
On Easter morning, I got out of bed early and spent some time reviewing my sermon notes for the morning. Taking a break from the effort, I posted something about my previous day’s activities on Facebook. Pastor Sean from the Lutheran Church messaged me that he was also up early and inviting me to watch the sunrise from the cemetery with him (from an appropriate social distance, of course). I agreed before hurriedly getting dressed and out the door to get to the edge of town before the sun rose. During the walk over, I spent time praying for f...
This past Sunday was Palm Sunday, the day that launches Holy Week in the church calendar. It is kind of an interesting and often misunderstood event. The gospels recorded it as the day that Jesus arrived in Jerusalem setting off a series of events that would end with his crucifixion. He approached Jerusalem from the east, having just raised Lazarus from the dead. News of the event had spread, and the excited masses came out to walk with him to the capital. As Jesus approached the city, riding on the back of a baby donkey, crowds came out from...
Years ago, while I was working in Northern Indiana, a series of powerful tornadoes struck the town where my job was located. The rural town was severely damaged, leaving many homes and farms decimated. I led a group of kids from work to do cleanup work in some of the neighborhoods. I will forever remember the sight of so much destruction in that quiet little farm community. Perhaps one of the most impressive sights though, was several days after the storms, while the cleanup effort was in full swing. Insurance representatives were all over...
In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire wrecked the life of prominent lawyer Horatia Spafford. Spafford lost his four-year-old son in the blaze along with most of his property and his law practice. 2 years later, he had planned to tour Europe with his family, who traveled ahead of him by ship. The ship sank and his four daughters were killed. His wife notified him by telegram that simply read: “Saved alone.” Crushed by the loss of his children and financially destitute, Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife. On the journey, his ship passed the...
In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire wrecked the life of prominent lawyer Horatia Spafford. Spafford lost his four-year-old son in the blaze along with most of his property and his law practice. 2 years later, he had planned to tour Europe with his family, who traveled ahead of him by ship. The ship sank and his four daughters were killed. His wife notified him by telegram that simply read: “Saved alone.” Crushed by the loss of his children and financially destitute, Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife. On the journey, his ship passed the...
I attended college in South Chicago while in my early 20s. Chicago was a fun place for a young, irresponsible kid to explore and enjoy. I took full advantage of this truth, taking the train to the city at every opportunity. In my often aimless wanderings, I often lost track of where I was and found myself lost. This was a problem until I learned a simple trick for navigating the sprawling streets of the Chicagoland area. In the middle of the downtown area, there was a landmark that was easily visible for miles around: The Sears Tower (though...
The opening chapter of the Gospel of Mark tells the story of Jesus’ ministry work in the city of Capernaum on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. These events are taking place very early in Jesus’ ministry, and he is just beginning to draw a large following. The chapter includes accounts of Jesus teaching to masses, casting out demons, and healing sick folks. Jesus ministers to the crowds all day and late into the night. When he goes to Peter’s home to rest for the night, people follow him. He continues until well after sundown. The next morni...
My kids argue. Any parent will tell you that kids always find something silly to disagree about. They get angry and start yelling or freezing each other out because of some petty disagreement. I’ve discovered that one of the most frequent elements of these fights is the assumption that they know what the other child is thinking. They assume that some careless word or accidental slight or offense is inspired by anger or spite or mean intentions. They are almost always wrong. Kids usually grow out of the petty version of this habit, but people i...
A while back, I read a book on an army Colonel who took over a demoralized company during the Vietnam War. One of the first things he did as commander was to rename his company “Hardcore” and require the soldier to repeat the name constantly. The idea was that the troops assumed they were screw-ups. They didn’t see themselves as tough soldiers. He changed their identities while changing their habits and disciplines. The impact of changing how the troops saw themselves was enormous. They approached excellence with zeal because they were the ...
During a power outage a few weeks ago, my kids and I spent some time talking about how strange it was that we kept flipping light switches when we entered rooms. They weren’t going to do anything, and we knew it. Still, after laughing over flipping the switch in the kitchen, we’d walk into the next room and try to turn the lights on without even thinking about it. The habit of turning on lights has become so ingrained into each of us that it is simply automatic. There are thousands of these behaviors we have repeated so many times that we don...
Over the last few weeks, I have been reading about New Year’s Resolutions. One of the most common suggestions for folks to apply in order to succeed in their life changes is that you find a group of people to associate with that are doing the same thing. This is a powerful idea because it is well supported by human behavior studies. We are influenced by our environment and peer group. For example, children are more likely to read regularly if they are raised in a household with parents who read. Kids raised in a household with parents who d...
In 2001, a study was done in England that looked at motivation to exercise. A large group of subjects was divided into three groups. One was the control group, which was told to simply track how often they worked out. Another group was exposed to motivational talks about the benefits of exercise and told to track their exercising. The final group received the same motivational materials, but were instructed to make a plan for working out. Specifically they were to complete the following sentence: “I will exercise for 20 minutes on at in .” The...
In Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, the reader is introduced to John the Baptist early in the story. John the Baptist was a popular preacher in ancient Israel whose messages prepared the ancient Jewish people for Jesus’ coming. In Luke’s gospel, John’s birth is an important part of the story of Christmas and includes some interesting elements. My favorite is a prophetic speech from John’s father that was probably adapted as a first century church hymn. In it, he describes the coming of God’s chosen deliverer in phrases and terminology that...
Before coming to Big Sandy, I worked with kids in a mental health facility. Most of the kids were pretty ordinary but had abusive or difficult upbringings. The result of their terrible life experiences was often a great deal of anger and disfunction. It was a difficult job because we worked with kids lived at the facility. Their parents weren’t there to care for them, so we had to fill in the best we could. The hardest part of the job was that we had to deal with clients at their worst. It became very easy to shift our mindset from one where w...
Over the last few weeks, I have read a handful of articles in various publications on how to start an argument over politics with your family at Thanksgiving Dinner. The authors of these helpful guides included catchphrases and tricks you could play to bait your family into expressing a viewpoint about one side of the political spectrum or another just so you can argue about why they’re are wrong. This included such petty acts as changing the WiFi password to something they will hate so that they have to type in your opinion to go on the i...
In 1929, Calvin Coolidge traveled to the Black Hills in North Dakota for a vacation. While there, he was photographed many times dressed in cowboy attire. The one catch being that it isn’t actually cowboy attire. It’s a very fancy, almost silly version of it. At the time, the press mocked the president mercilessly. He responded that it was ok for them to laugh, but that he was living out a childhood dream. Looking at the pictures, there is no way anyone would think that the president was a real cowboy. He tried to dress the part, but in rea...
The treadmill was originally invented as a torture device for prisoners. Prisoners were chained in place on a cycling belt that simply continued to move. The prisoners were forced to run or walk in place for hours at a time as a form of torture. It’s a pretty ingenious torture device, if you think about it. You work all day, exhausting yourself, but never accomplish anything for your efforts. After sweating and straining all day, you are still standing in the same place you were when you started. I recently read a book by a philosophy p...
In ancient Israel, every Jewish boy would learn the Torah in school. Specifically, they would memorize the Jewish religious writings starting at an early age until the rabbi teaching them decided they had reached their potential as students. At that time, they were sent off to work in whatever field their family had always worked in. Some students would be sent away early to work, while others would progress to the point that they were accepted as a disciple to a rabbi. This was sort of like earning your doctorate. Anyone who studied under a...